Praise to Yahweh for His Faithfulness in Israel’s History

¹ Praise Yah.¹ Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loyal love is forever.

1. Hebrew hallelujah

² Who can utter the mighty deeds of Yahweh, or proclaim all his praise?

³ Blessed are those who observe justice, he who does righteousness at all times.

⁴ Remember me, O Yahweh, when you show favor to your people. Look after me when you deliver,

⁵ that I may see the good done your chosen ones, to be glad in the joy of your nation, to glory together with your inheritance.

⁶ We have sinned along with our ancestors.¹ We have committed iniquity; we have incurred guilt.

1. Or “fathers”

⁷ Our ancestors¹ in Egypt did not understand your wonderful works. They did not remember your many acts of loyal love, and so they rebelled by the sea at ⌞the Red Sea⌟.²

1. Or “fathers”
2. Literally “sea of reed”

⁸ Yet he saved them for the sake of his name, to make known his might.

⁹ So he rebuked ⌞the Red Sea⌟,¹ and it dried up, and he led them through the deep as through a desert.

1. Literally “sea of reed”

¹⁰ Thus he saved them from the hand of the hater and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

¹¹ But waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.

¹² Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.

¹³ They quickly forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

¹⁴ And they ⌞craved intensely⌟¹ in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.

1. Literally “craved a craving”

¹⁵ So he gave to them their request, but he sent leanness into their souls.¹

1. Hebrew “soul” or “inner self”

¹⁶ And they were jealous of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh.

¹⁷ The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and it covered over the gang of Abiram.

¹⁸ Also fire burned in their assembly; the flame devoured the wicked.

¹⁹ They made a calf at Horeb and bowed down to a cast image.

²⁰ And so they exchanged their glory for an image of an ox that eats grass.

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

²² wonders in the land of Ham, awesome deeds by ⌞the Red Sea⌟.¹

1. Literally “sea of reed”

²³ So he said he would exterminate them, had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to reverse his wrath from destroying them.

²⁴ Then they refused the desirable land; they did not believe his word,

²⁵ but grumbled in their tents. They did not obey the voice of Yahweh.

²⁶ So ⌞he made an oath⌟¹ against them, to make them drop in the wilderness,

1. Literally “he lifted his hand,” an act accompanying an oath

²⁷ and to disperse¹ their ⌞descendants⌟² among the nations and to scatter them among the lands.

1. Or “let drop”
2. Literally “seed”

²⁸ They also attached themselves to Baal of Peor, and they ate sacrifices offered to the dead.¹

1. Hebrew “sacrifices of dead”

²⁹ Thus they provoked to anger by their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰ Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and so the plague was stopped,

³¹ and it was reckoned to him as righteousness ⌞throughout all generations⌟.¹

1. Literally “for a generation and a generation”

³² They also angered God at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses on account of them,

³³ because they rebelled against his Spirit,¹ and he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.

1. A slightly different verbal form yields “they embittered his spirit”

³⁴ They did not exterminate the peoples, as Yahweh had commanded them,¹

1. Hebrew “said to them”

³⁵ but they mingled with the nations and learned their works,

³⁶ and served their idols, which became¹ a snare to them.

1. Hebrew “and they became”

³⁷ They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons,

³⁸ and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and so the land was defiled with the blood.¹

1. Hebrew “bloods,” that is, bloodshed

³⁹ And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds.

⁴⁰ So Yahweh’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance.

⁴¹ Then he gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴² And their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand.

⁴³ Many times he delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low by their iniquity.

⁴⁴ Yet he looked upon their distress when he heard their cry.

⁴⁵ And he remembered his covenant with them, and relented based on the abundance of his loyal love.

⁴⁶ And he ⌞let them find compassion⌟¹ before all their captors.

1. Literally “gave them to have mercies”

⁴⁷ Save us, O Yahweh our God, and gather us from the nations, so that we may give thanks to your holy name and boast in your praise.

⁴⁸ Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise Yah.¹

1. Hebrew hallelujah